The worldwide network of computers commonly known as the “Internet” has seen explosive growth in the last several years. This growth has been typically fueled by the introduction and widespread use of “web” browsers that allow for simple graphical user interface-based access to network servers. Such network servers typically support documents formatted as “web pages.” The “World Wide Web” (WWW) is a collection of servers on the Internet that utilize the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). HTTP is a known application protocol that provides users access to files using a standard page description language referred to as Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). It should be noted that files may be provided in different formats, such as text, graphics, images, sound, and video, among others. HTML provides basic document formatting and allows the developer to specify “links” to other servers and files. Use of an HTML-compliant client browser involves specification of a link via a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). Upon specification of a URL, a client may make a TCP/IP request to the server identified in the link and receive a “web page” in return, where the “web page” is a document formatted according to HTML.
Currently, the Internet is primarily used by individuals who wish to access information and services. Among the services provided by the Internet are electronic mail messaging services that allow users to communicate with one another easily and in a timely manner, regardless of the physical location of the users.
FIG. 1 illustrates a standard electronic mail system configuration implemented within a communication network. During the operation of such standard electronic mail configuration, a message store device 102 receives incoming mail and places it in a storage device 104. A mail user device 106 often accesses messages stored in storage device 104 and provides an interface to a user of the electronic mail system. When the user wishes to transmit mail, a message is composed using mail user device 106 and passed to a message transport device 108. Message transport device 108 determines that the mail is correctly addressed and packaged for transport within the communication network. Operation and an architecture of a typical electronic mail device will be discussed below.
In a classical electronic mail configuration, a message store agent (MSA) collects incoming mail and places it in a message storage device. A mail user agent (MUA), often the separate program, reads the messages stored in the message storage device and presents and interface to an external user. When the user wishes to transmit mail, the message is composed using the MUA and passed to a message transport agent (MTA) that insures the mail is correctly addressed and packaged for transport on a communication network. Other electronic mail systems may include mail sent to devices that are intermittently connected to the network. In such systems, the MUA is replaced with a mail server that services requests over an intermittent line from a mail proxy device. At the request of the mail proxy device, a copy of the mail in the message storage device is copied to a storage device of an off-net machine. The mail server then proceeds in a similar manner to that described above and the elements in the mail server, including the message storage device and the MTA function as previously described. Outgoing mail may be formatted for delivery on the off-net machine and delivered via mail proxy to the mail server for delivery to the communication network. Transactions between the off-net machine and the mail server on a machine that is continuously on the net occur only when the connection is active.
While such conventional electronic mail messaging systems work adequately for most applications, such conventional electronic mail systems have certain limitations. Specifically, electronic mail systems such as those discussed above, are inflexible and fail to allow a user to index or cross-reference messages in a convenient or easily usable manner. Additionally, when new communication networks and new applications are developed, a user may not generally modify the protocol within the electronic mail messaging system to communicate with the newer applications because such conventional electronic mail systems are implemented with a proprietary format that is inaccessible and unmodifiable by a user. Furthermore, such conventional electronic mail systems do not allow for messages to be shared in an easy manner. Rather, a user must take a separate action to forward a message to another party, or make arrangements to share the information with others through an exchange of passwords, or the like. Thus, while there has been an intermingling of the functionality of the Internet with the more traditional electronic mail messaging systems, the traditional electronic mail messaging system has not kept pace with technology advances spurred by the development of the WWW. Therefore, a need exists for an electronic mail messaging system that allows users to have greater flexibility when storing, receiving, and archiving electronic mail messages. Furthermore, a need exists for a messaging system that responds to the changing technology found on the WWW.
Furthermore, such conventional electronic mail messaging systems fail to provide a user with flexibility in organizing mail messages, and other HTML documents, that have been received by a user via a communication network. Such conventional electronic mail messaging systems may provide methods for sorting messages based upon the urgency of the message or a date or time at which the message was received. However, the user may desire to organize mail messages in accordance with their own needs or use. Lotus Notes™ provides an example of an electronic messaging system. Users can store received messages by specifying one or more categories that apply to them. It should be noted that the message arrives uncategorized. When the user elects to store the message, the electronic mail (e-mail) system presents the users with the opportunity to determine the categories to be associated with the message. If the user wishes, the user can also create new categories and associate them with the message, in addition to, or instead of any pre-existing categories that may have existed.
While this system of categories is very useful for searching an e-mail database, it suffers from the aforementioned limitations. Specifically, the user cannot index a portion or a subsection of a message. In Lotus Notes, the finest level of allowed detail is a whole message. This may prove to be unduly limiting to many users. Additionally, Lotus Notes does not allow the use of general purpose tools on an archived message. The messages are stored in a proprietary format which precludes their access from any tool except one explicitly knowledgeable of the format. Furthermore, Lotus Notes does not allow a user to easily share the archive or a portion of the archive. Rather, users can share messages by creating a shared database on a common server in a cumbersome process that requires all of the users sharing the archive to have the same software installed.
Therefore, a need exists for a data processing system and method that allows a user to organize received documents into categories of their own choosing using HTML.